Been a minute

...since I've posted anything and so I thought I had better sit down and do it. I've been keeping busy at work and   brewing. Right now I'm enjoying a honey wheat that is coming along well. Will be even better in a couple weeks once the honey mellows out some more.

Filed my taxes over the weekend and learned that we pay too much to the government. Also, we do not get enough credit for what we pay out. For instance, we paid $12k in child care last year and only got a tax credit for $1200. That's only 10%. My stomach fell out a little. Perhaps I should start looking beyond American borders for my retirement. Mexico looked good until the last 5-7yrs. Now its more of a warzone for power.

On that note, I would like to express my opinion on drugs and the cartels. A lot of the money and power gained by these criminal families like the Zetas is through the trafficking and sale of marijuana. Most, if not all, of that money, comes straight from the U.S. market. It is my belief that if the U.S., or the border states, would legalize weed, much of the power and threat would dissipate. It would be grown, cultivated, taxed, and dispensed locally. How many of the dispensaries in California, Colorado, or any weed friendly state do you think buy weed from Mexico. None. The power is given to the cartels because the government refuses to repeal a law put into effect over 60yrs ago after a ridiculous anti-drug campaign. Sure,the cartels would still have a market on guns andother drugs like cocaine. They would try to make up the money where they could but realistically, weed makes huge margins for them. It would be like McDonalds taking burgers off their menu. Sure, they have wraps, nuggets and other items but burgers are their number one seller. (McD's is the number one buyer of beef and produce in the world....... say feed lot). The point is, weather you are pro-weed or not, you cannot deny that legalization could have a positive benefit.

Stepping off of my soapbox now........It's been a bit windy today. Makes me want to repair my wind turbine. I have a small turbine that I bought a few years back but the hub is worn and in need of replacement. The original is aluminum but I would like to find something a little more solid. Perhaps I'll put a little more time and effort into it in the coming months,

Blood Sweat and Tears

Today was Valentines Day. I went traditional and gave the wife a card and a dozen roses. She did the same and got me a nice bottle of cologne. I don't know the full history behind VDay but I'm pretty sure it had something to do with the folks at Hallmark and Hershey's.

I've also bee trying to get in better shape. I've put on a few pounds since I started brewing. Delicious beer is much like delicious food. The best ones are loaded with calories. Most of mine were topping out at 300calories per pint. I've since gotten it down to about half that but when you drink 3 or 4 and then go to bed, it's easy to put on weight. I started a workout routine last week and it is kicking my ass. It's called the Spartacus: Blood and Sand workout. Supposedly the same routine the stars of the television show use. I've never seen the show but imagine they all look like Greek gods. The workout consists of 10 one-minute routines with a 45sec breather between each one. You are supposed to complete the circuit of routines 3 to 4 times and do that 3x per week. It sounded easy enough. After all, it only uses 10lb dumbells. The first time I tried it, I couldn't make it through a full circuit. I thought I was going to die. Tonight was my third attempt and I can almost make it through one full circuit. The thought of doing 3-4 of those in one day is scary yet exciting. My whole goal for this is to lose about 20lbs and get in better shape. Here is a link to the video if anyone is interested. I challenge you to go through a full circuit (does not count if you are under 25), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9LEjEV2n1Q

Monday the 13th

Had a battle with allergies today and they won. I spent the day just laying in bed wishing I could breathe clearly and stop all this misery.

Yesterday was much more productive, I was able to get my keggle all nice and polished. It's not perfect by any means but it is much nicer than it was. Doesn't have to be perfect. After all, its just for brewing beer in. Decided to take a few pictures during the process.

Now I can see all the imperfections in it. Oh well. Like I said, it's just for brewing beer.

Also spent a little time refreshing some of my woodworking skills. I've been wanting a wooden crate to carry my beers around with me. I wanted something small that could carry about 4 beers so I went to Lowe's on Sunday morning and got a small piece of luan and a some paint. About 4 hrs, one band-aid, and a few splinters later I had my box. Behold, my own little brewhauler. Now I have something to carry my beer in☺.

My oldest daughter(5) told me something that reminded me that at that age, the world is still a new place full of amazing things. She let me know that there are 12 months in a year. While this seems trivial, to a child, it is not. They are learning this for the first time. I was reminded of the day when she asked me if I knew we lived on Earth. She was so serious. I made sure to give her the full attention and respect that the conversation deserved. She can act so serious sometimes. She will walk up to me and say,"Daddy, Can I talk to you about something?" with all concern one might expect from an adult, and then she will ask something like if she can wear her pajamas with the horses tonight. I can't help but crack a smile.
 

Pumped Up Kicks

Been meaning to post for a few days now but every time I look at my laptop it reminds me of work and I have a sudden urge to do something, anything else. I need to get past that.

Giants won the Superbowl. I didn't really like either team but I respect Eli Manning so I pulled for the Giants. I was really hoping to win a few bucks on football squares but was't so lucky this year.

Decided it was time for some new shoes on the Lincoln so I took it to my local Discount? Tire. I sometimes question the discount but what do I know? It only cost me a couple pints of blood and the promise of my first born son. I feel much safer on the road but  I need to get the front end looked at. It sounds like a bearing is going out in the wheel assembly. I'm not a mechanic nor do I make any claim to have extensive knowledge of vehicles. I simply have good common sense and working understanding of mechanical parts. I'll have to deal with it next payday.

Got myself some new shoes as well. These didn't cost near as much. They were the first pair of shoes I have ever bought online. I only did it because I had these in high school and loved them. They're typically used for indoor soccer but they are also good casual shoes. Although this photo doesn't quite show, due to poor lighting, but the white parts are really baby blue. I sported them today and actually felt good with the color.

The plants and weather do not seem to know it is winter. The temperature has been in the 60s and 70s for the last month with a couple cold days in there. My grass is ready to be cut again. I'll have to do it this weekend. The trees have all started to bloom. I fear they will die if we get a bad freeze. At this point I am glad to not be a homeowner.

Visitors

Today was a long day. Had several meetings (which is unusual for me) and some visitors from California. I'm in sales and my respective territory is Northern California. Some of our field engineers who live in the Bay Area were in town for some training and we got to get together for dinner. It's nice to get that face time when you can. Ate way too much BBQ though.

On a political note, looks like Romney won out in Florida. I don't even know why the count Florida. I mean, seriously, have you ever met someone from Florida (natively or spent 10+ yrs there)that you can describe as awesome or amazing? .....I haven't either. A few pretty cool ones but nothing I can attribute beyond oranges and Daytona Beach make Florida more exciting than Alabama. And nobody looks at Alabama as a place the want to go to (not that there''s anything wrong with Alabama, I'm just saying that it does not have a reputation for being the most exciting state) Don't wanna piss anyone off. I kinda wanna go to Alabama just to hike, fish, and hunt. Anyhow, Florida sucks and should just sink. God hates Florida. He proved it when he gave them 5 hurricanes in a row. I would call that population control. Just sayin.... (yeah and it's my blog so I can say what I want) I was happy to see that at least a short population had some sense (in my opinion at least) and voted Ron Paul. In general discussions I've had, it seems people do not feel he has the backing (i.e. money) to win the Republican seat. I would have to agree with that. Apparently, Stupid America only cares about how we can keep welfare working for now. They are voting essentially between two evils for Republican nominee. Romney is a political corporate fat cat with only financial and personal gain in interest.  Gingrich is a snake who is willing to sell out or jump ship at the first sign of trouble. This is displayed by his failure to enter the draft, by his abandonment of first wife after being diagnosed with a terminal illness. Also later exemplified when he left his second wife (for a member of his staff, no less) after she was diagnosed with cancer. I can't  imagine this bastard preaching family values. Wish I had my own island. Anyone have an island they are looking to start a colony on? I can hunt, fish, build and I am pretty easy to get along with. Hit me up.

Triple D

Been watching some DIY Network and Food Channel lately.It has me really itching to buy a house. Just so I can gut the kitchen and bathroom and build them to my liking. The problem is, both are the likely the most expensive improvements one can make to a home. Luckily, I am fairly handy and can do most of the work myself. My ultimate goal is to buy a couple acres outside of Austin but still within a short drive where I can build my dream home over the course of about two to three years. At this point though, funding is limited due to student loans and credit card debt. Needless to say, the banks are not lining up to give guys like me a loan. Don't misinterpret this to say I do not pay my bills. I simply have maxed out my credit limit. This is largely due to an overpriced degree worth about as much as the paper it's printed on and an awesome wedding and honeymoon. My wife and I, like many young couples, found the world at our feet in our 20's. Now we find ourselves paying for it in our 30's. No worries though. It was full of great times and memories that I'll have for years. I try not to sweat the small stuff that I cannot immediately impact.

The Food Network's Diners, Dives, and Drive-ins has me wanting to go to New York. It seems like every place he goes to has the most amazing looking sandwiches. Everything from bologna and onion to these ridiculous prime rib french dips. Also wrote down a couple recipes I want to try. One of which was a beer cheese and potato soup. I remember having a great beer cheese coup in my late teens at a restaurant I worked at. I recall trying to recreate it once for my mother and uncle only to end in a disaster. The meal was still ok but not the soup. I plan to recreate this soup using my own beer and serve it in a bread bowl. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

On another note, I helped a good buddy with his first brew. He was the one who initially got me interested in homebrewing but it took him a year to make the leap. He brewed a Blue Moon clone that is going to be dangerously good. I brewed a Honey Wheat recipe. I brewed this several times last year, tweaking the recipe but this was my first time brewing it all-grain. I used BeerSmith to convert the ingredients so we'll see how it turns out. The Dog took a couple laps from my sweet wort as it was chilling and neither of us were paying attention. I don't give a shit, I'm still drinking it. I wound up with a higher efficiency (92%) vs. 52% I usually get and the only thing I did different was use bottled spring water over my regular tap water. City of Round Rock, your water sucks. Anyhow, I digress. My friend was really happy with how easy the process was and now he will be brewing his own beer from now on. He doesn't drink much so it should be easy. We moved some stuff around in his shed, ran power and hooked up some outlets as well as a temporary water source (i.e. water hose for chilling and washing). Now it is more conducive to brewing.

I have also come to note that I rather like my Dirty Nipple Belgian Tripel. This was my first attempt at this style. While I did not win the local brewhouse com petition, I learned that I make a pretty good Tripel, If I do say so myself. The pic below is  from  our brewfridge. I call it Skull tap (because there is a tap underneath). Cause I'm that original.

*************UPDATE************

Holy smokes. It seems some people have wizened up and listened to what I have been saying for a while.

"Many American soda brands are sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup, a heart-harming man-made compound derived mainly from genetically engineered corn. The problem? Genetically engineered ingredients have only been in our food chain since the 1990s, and we don't know their long-term health impacts because the corporations that developed the crops never had to test them for long-term safety. Case in point: Some recent findings suggest that genetically engineered crops are linked to digestive tract damage, accelerated aging, and even infertility!"

Rainy Day

Finally had some rain today. It's been "damp" on and off but we had a good rain today with more on the way. I'm not usually one to make talk of the weather unless I don't know someone or just have nothing of quality to say. It's one of those things you generally talk to anyone about at any time.However, with the drought we had over the summer and all of the wildfires, it's just nice to have a little rain. I just had to get that out of the way.

Had a nice weekend at my Mom's. Got hang out with some old friends. It was my friend Sisco's birthday so we went out and had some drinks. ....Ok, we had a lotB of drinks but we were safe and had a designated driver, my lovely wife (thank you baby). Also, got to see my Uncle Pee Wee. Great guy. He has some acreage with lots of mesquite trees that he has to constantly work at to keep it maintained. Needless to say, he has plenty of good mesquite for smoking. Since I typically cook on the pit every Sunday, he chopped me up a bunch of discs to soak and use for smoking. I really appreciate my family. They are great.
Spent some time at my Bro and sis in-law's house and got to see my nephew. Little guy is solid as a rock. Not fat or anything, mind you, just solid and PACKED with energy. I need to figure out how to can and sell that stuff. I could make a fortune.

Watched some football. It seem that the two teams I like least in the league (if I could throw the EAgles in there it would be a perfect storm) made it to the Super Bowl. I now have only 2 reasons to watch; commercials and to see if my squares pay off. OF course, I don't have to watch the game for any of that but I can't NOT watch the Super Bowl. I was really pulling for the 49ers but that got shot to hell late in the 4th.

In other news Newt Gingrich has all but erased Mitt Romney's 23-percentage-point lead of a week ago among Republican voters nationally, and the two candidates are now essentially tied, at 29% for Romney and 28% for Gingrich. Congratulations! You two Washington shitheels are officially approved by almost one-third of half of the goat pinching states you're so aggressively flaunted your corporate thievery earnings and bribery donations in. Come on to Texas. Yeah, we've had some dumb ones like any other state, but we've got some real smart one's too. Take Dr. Ron Paul for instance. He hasn't had much media coverage and some don't take him seriously but he has some good ideas AND he's the only one running who has not taken any corporate superpac money, has not signed up for his congressional pension(12 years in Congress mind you), never accepted welfare or medicaid when he was a practicing Dr., Instead he lowered his fees to whatever his patients could pay. He actually served his country rather than his country club. I could go on all night. Hope I have not stirred up any political fires. I doubt it at this point, such low traffic, not worried about anyone reading my blog.